Style springs eternal from the designs Simon & Mary brings to life. When donned, ensembles become instantaneously memorable and looks go beyond merely fashionable. Their hats are as much an exclamation mark, as they can be a demure staple if you have your styling head on right.

The heritage milliners have harnessed Felt to transcend being just a cold weather essential. And now, their creations – in textiles ranging from tweed to Felt, to towel cotton too – embody the zeitgeist of South Africa’s ebbing and flowing vivid street style.

People are braving colourways and playful proportions they’d never have otherwise touched, as the family-run millinery, founded in 2014 (however the family’s millinery tradition puts them as having been in the business since 1935), delivers hats in all kinds of both classic and pop preppy shades.

We’re being dared to be different – in weird, and wonderfully flattering hat shapes and shades.

There are no beanies, but there are Wonky Piths. No berets, but a plethora of transitional fedoras, bucket hats, Canadian Mountie-inspired creations, and so much more.

It’s a smorgasbord of domed sartorial fun!

Whenever I am planning my next travel adventure, Simon & Mary hats are one of the first things that help define my itinerary. They’ll help in navigating what experiences I want to go to, when, and how to approach them.

They’ll be companions to my mood too – from the cosy feels of settling into another long-haul flight, to the elation of touching down on another continent.

I have a selection of their hip heritage-holding hats, which include the genuinely iconified Simon & Mary Fez – made, according to Simon & Mary Founder Dean Pozniak, using his grandfathers’ equipment from the 50 and 60s.

The transformative pieces unequivocally aid in starting my travel days with joy and excitement – whether it’s raining or not.

Simon & Mary hats have joined me in New York during New York Fashion Week, accompanied me through a Eurotrip from Amsterdam to Berlin, and I’ve greeted Paris as an old friend, as well as seen the South of France with my Simon & Mary hats being coverage and style all the way.

They travel well, and style even better.

They’re easy, quality fashion for the wearer.
But the hats are also a crowning depiction of what African milliners are capable of.

The brand is also impressive in having had collections made from hemp, cactus leather from Mexico, straw, and, most recently has produced a crochet bucket hat made of coffee cotton too.

Sustainable fashion in on the rise after all, and this South African-based brand knows to introduce the concept to their collections (gradually) as the fashion market and business policy-makers (as well as ethics ‘watchdogs’) at large demand brands to pivot for the sake fo the environment.

Contemporary hat-makers Simon & Mary – a marriage of two names easily synonymous with fashion & style.

By my recommendation: